Photographed by circulating

you can just almost hear the steam rise…

– License

Thursday, 12/17/09

Mary the Morgan was kind enough to do a little Santa hat modeling. We were working with the last shreds of sunlight but ended up with some nice images.

What started out as a quick barn trip ended up being a really productive session with Wizard. I expected to do a little groundwork and go home but Miss Tuesday’s owner came to the barn to ride so I had a riding buddy. Since Wizard was looking a little stiff, I put a quarter sheet on him, as well as my Thermatex cooler/rug to warm up his muscles. We did a but of hand-walking, followed by some low-key longeing. After longeing, I attached long lines to the bit and did a little ground driving/long lining with him. He is getting much better about being worked on his right side. He stopped a few times but I was able to keep him forward and relaxed without a whip, just my voice. We did serpentines and circles and added a few halts. It looked like he had loosened up and he was quite responsive so I mounted up and rode for a quick ride at the walk. We rode in a large oval and I concentrated on keeping him loose and relaxed. It felt good to ride him again :^) He has an appointment to have his shoes pulled on Friday so he will be barefoot for the rest of the winter.

Jay Jay, 10 y.o. TB

Hercules

Horses in need of new homes.

Jay Jay is a 10 y.o. Thoroughbred mare, ex racehorse. Lovely nature. Hoof injury has left her with a limp. It’s possible that a correct boot may assist this. She cannot be used as a broodmare as she has a history of miscarriage. She needs a forever home.

Hercules is a 10 y.o. Thoroughbred gelding, ex racehorse. Gentle, quiet nature. Suffered extreme abuse that left him with a fracture in this skull. Endured extensive, painful physiotherapy to regain neck movement. Able to be ridden by children and adults. 18.2 hh.

Ill health and property sale has forced them to be given up. Both horses are currently located in Imbil, SE Queensland and need loving forever homes only.

Please email us if you can help.

These are not currently Charlie’s Angels horses. We are facilitating a private transaction.

Tuesday, 12/8/09

Before my ride, I visited Wizard and we played in the indoor arena for a little while. His weight looks great and he seems quite chipper with our all-play and no-work schedule.

My fabulous farrier already put Paris’ shoe back on her so she was ready to ride when I got to the barn with my mom. I longed her for just a few minutes to see if she had any playful exuberance she needed to get out due to having a lot of time off from riding. She gave one big playful leap but was otherwise quite businesslike. She is one of those mares who does not play much during turnout time, but she is young and fit so she seems to enjoy a wild moment or two.

Our ride was brief since I am slowly building up her condition, but it was quite enjoyable. The whole ride lasted about 20 minutes. I started with a walking warmup, practicing changes of direction and getting a feel for how much contact she likes. I also allowed her to stretch downward quite a bit. When she moves from a walk to a trot, she takes a BIG step forward. She is quite a powerful girl. We did a few transitions during our trot work- they were a little slow but I think her improved fitness will lead to more graceful work. For now, I’m getting a feel for her and letting her get used to me as well.

Ok ok…. just a few funny pictures My family and a few other friends went to walk through the streets of lights in Alta Loma. If you haven’t been there ….. it is just beautiful! The main street to view the lights in Thoroughbred but wander around.. even if by car. There is an amazing house with Stuart Little theme…it has a huge  bi-wing wooden carved plane in the front yard… I believe that one is on Jenett.

I posted on Facebook that we were going to this and I got a good response of some other GREAT places to go Such as the Eagle Hills Christmas lights in Brea, Upper Hastings Ranch in Pasedena, Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena, and a Pasedena Light tour….

I love this time of year and sharing it with friends and family. On our walk on Thoroughbred I thought the theme of this yards’ decorations was pretty funny! Sorry.. this 1st picture came out a little blurry…… The entire home and yard was decorated with reindeer of different themes… here are just 2.

Think it needs to be updated to Hef and Cristal (is that her name?)

 And for the Laker Fans…. they had a reindeer for that too

With of course #24 on!

 If you go view the lights on this streets we were told that police crack down on where you can park and it should be narrowed down to one way traffic down the street. If you have kids….. bundle them up in a stroller or wagon….. with all the excitement, crowd, and cars… it can get a little stressful

Bundle them up and have fun!

Also bring a few $ cash…. a lot of homeowners sell little snacks and fresh cookies YUM!

Happy Holidays!

Danielle Ervin

Turfside at Happy Valley.

Over the years I’ve spent many a beautiful night at the Happy Valley Racecourse.  However up until a visit in October, I’ve never watched a race from turfside.  I’ve always sat in the expensive upper reaches of the beautiful facility but never in the “cheap” seats.  Let me tell me, the race and its attendant activities are much more enjoyable from this location.  Not only can you view the race from closeup, you are never isolated from the activity like you can be in the upper seats.  And being so close to the action, one can feel the “excitement” in the air.  And for photos, its chockful of subjects to pursue.

All photos taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 zoom lens or 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens.

Beautiful turf.

Jockey in thought.

Warming up.

Heading for home.

Cool down.

The Beatle by Melanie Eberhardt

I was so lucky my parents bought me a horse when I was 12. The Beatle was about 12 years old too and he was ¾ thoroughbred and 1/4 quarter horse. He was very steady on his feet, a perfect fox hunter, did well in dressage at my level and hated stadium jumping. He was smart and an escape artist. At pony club rallies he always escaped and we got points counted off.

A beautiful blood bay with a small star and snip, Beatle was always ready to follow the hounds into the woods over any type fences at the Midland Foxhound hunts. Our main teacher at Midland was Anne Ticehurst from England. She taught dressage primarily so we just learned to jump in the woods.

I will always cherish my time with Beatle. I rode him every day from age 15 until I got married in 1975. He was sold to a younger rider and he lived to be over 30. Right before I sold him he was at a friend’s farm in Alabama. The friend watched Beatle go and open the grain room, steal a sack of grain and drag it to the field. Then he went back for another bag before joining his friends. I am lucky we never had colic!!!!

Commissioned by DVM Rebecca K of Atlanta, GA

Question: We recently bought a 3-year-old horse for our daughter.  I know it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do but the horse was very quiet and we were assured that he had no problems.  He does seem quiet most of the time but every now and then when your not expecting it he will blow up.  It’s not a bolt but more of a jumping straight in the air and then striking out.  I think he is simply trying to avoid work, but I am worried that someone will get hurt.  I am trying to decide if selling this horse now would be my best decision as with a more experienced person I’m sure he will be great, I just want something safe for my daughter (she is 14 and has 6 years experience riding). We are an experienced horse family but if this is likely to progress into a continuous problem I don’t know if we want to deal with it.  Thanks for any advice.

Answer from April Reeves: This is one of my favorite questions as I deal with this every day. First, buying a young horse for a young girl who has had time in the saddle does not bother me. This horse does not sound aggressive enough to do any real damage, and in fact may become one of her better ‘teachers’. But the learning curve begins here, as there are differences between a horse below 7 and a horse above 7 that we will discover in this answer.

I first want to speak about thoroughbreds, as they are one breed I have done a great deal of work with. In my opinion, the thoroughbred is a ‘foundation’ horse, in that the breed’s influence when crossed with other breeds improves it, much like the Arabian. They have spirit and exuberance that is much needed in today’s competitive environment. Thoroughbreds are athletic, clever and mature into beautiful horses when schooled and looked after. Many of them have the same capabilities as hunter/jumpers as Warmbloods.

That being said, there are some things about thoroughbreds, especially before the age of 7, that are a bit different than many other breeds. And you are experiencing this.

When you buy a breed that is known for its ability to perform beyond it’s appearance (super athletes), you buy a mind that is both clever and easily influenced. This breed is intelligent. They demand that you know your stuff and speak horse language. They erupt when you do not ask the question properly. While some may think of thoroughbreds as unpredictable and dangerous, it is because they do not have the skills to work with them. These skills are easily acquired, when you let go of preconceived ideas of how a horse should be trained. Thoroughbreds learn at a faster rate (than many other breeds) if the trainer is consistent and quiet. Before the age of 7 they are babies, and at 7, they can alter their behavior into a quiet, level headed horse, leaving you wondering where ‘Crazy Charlie’ went to!

Training is a constant state of learning. There is no goal because there is no end.

I’m going to change the ‘language’ of training, so that you both have a better understanding of ‘why’ horses do what they do. It’s very likely he did not have any problems when you bought him – not that I’m saying you caused this behavior consciously, but we, as humans, tend to put our human values onto the horse, assuming he behaves in a manner that a human would. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Horses are very simple in their language. Their biggest difference is the lack of ego. Their emotions are clean and transparent. They are much like newborn babies (human). Think of your thoroughbred as a newborn until 7.

When the horse does something the human does not like or want (jumping straight in the air and striking out) we humans look for answers that we understand (human language).

However, the horse is trying to communicate to you in his language.

Horses do not try to avoid work unless the work is:

1. Too much for them to grasp. We often miss important parts of the training ‘mix’, and then ask the horse to perform a movement he is not acquainted with or understands. This happens when we jump from grade 1 to grade 7 in our commands. Horses need to learn in an order that makes their learning easier. While the techniques and methods you apply may change from horse to horse (each horse absorbs information differently) each horse has a rate at which it can learn and apply what it has learned. For example, constant contact with the face on a 3-year-old is something a 4 or 5-year-old learns. Young horses have much to learn before then, as the contact is how the human asks the horse to ‘gather’ and ‘connect’, an exercise of about grade 5. No 3-year-old should be in grade 5.

When we skip vital pieces of the training mix, we put the horse in the position of ‘questioning’ the aid. That is when you get the horse doing things you don’t ‘want’, but in reality the horse is just letting you know that he does not understand because you have not set him up to learn properly. He is telling you in his language that you need to ask the question differently or fill in the missing pieces for him. Unfortunately, his language is kicking out, bolting, bucking and what ever a horse can do to get it through to the human. Mix this ‘language’ with a 3-year-old and you can see the exuberance of your thoroughbred’s questioning is coming out as a violent and bad horse.

2. Inconsistent aids: when you ask a horse through an aid (legs, hands, seat, weight, voice) it’s vital that you keep the aid the same in your asking until the horse understands. Yesterday I went to a lesson with a lady and a green horse. The first thing she wanted to show me, above everything else was how well this horse could turn on the forehand (move haunches around). She began to draw her leg back and up, and when the horse did not respond, she began to move her leg all around the horses barrel, increasing and decreasing the pressure, taking the leg off and changing position, in an erratic movement.

As you can visualize, the horse did nothing. The face of the horse was very questioning.

This is one of the most important things to remember, and I stress this in every clinic I do and article I write. Consistency is the backbone of riding. Every time you change your ‘question’ (aid) to the horse, you change the lesson. This poor horse had no idea what she was asking since she changed 1.Rhythm, 2.Speed, 3.Pressure, 4.Position/Placing of her foot every second. In her mind, she was demanding this young horse respond as if it was fully trained. When she did not get an immediate response, she changed her way of asking, but what she was saying to the horse was “Do this, now this, now this, now try something else, how about this….” in a matter of 10 seconds.

When you stay soft and use the same pressure and placement until the horse responds in the manner you are asking (the smallest try is good) even if it takes time, the horse will have an easier time grasping the request. But we humans rush into things expecting the horse to read our minds. They can read our intention and emotion, but not our language.

I am going into detail because I want you to think about keeping the horse and moving through the process instead of moving on. Your daughter is old enough to learn, and young enough to gain valuable skills of staying on during those rough moments. This horse can teach her things that many young people avoid to learn, but it is in this training environment (for both horse and human) that your daughter’s greatest challenges and breakthroughs will occur. If it is too easy, it is easily dropped.

I am going to give you a one-year program for this horse, and in the end you will have one big beautiful horse if you follow it, take the time, and accept the challenges as ‘your’ challenge and not the horses. These are pieces of training from my blog, and they should take you one year and a new learning curve that will allow you and your daughter the grace to accept and work with almost any horse when you have learned their applications and advantages.

With thoroughbreds, and by the sound of it, yours in particular, you will have the challenge of training this horse through these specific methods:

1. Make the right think easy and the wrong thing difficult. This does not mean punishing the horse when it does something you don’t want. It simply means that the second the horse moves to do something you don’t want, you will be asking him to do something uncomfortable.
2. Changing habits you don’t want with habits you do want. There is no need to ‘punish’ a horse with the use of crops or aids or anger. With thoroughbreds, this would be a recipe for disaster. Instead, you will use the above and add to it. Once the horse understands that his habit leads to discomfort, and begins to slow his habit down, you ask him to try something new. This encourages the horse to start using his brain. Horses by nature are animals of habit and instinct. They don’t need to take the time to think in the wild; they must react and do it fast or be eaten. Humans come along and ask that they start to think. This is not something a horse will do automatically. We must teach them; allow the thinking process to be the first thing they do, instead of using reaction. In order to do this, a human must understand how to set up the learning so this can happen. Because thoroughbreds are so close to their instincts (hot) they are a bigger challenge than many other breeds. But it is this closeness to their instincts that make them good at running.

These next long reads are from my blog. You may choose to try all these techniques, or change and add as you go. Just keep in mind, the minute you do not get the response you want, it is because you are moving too far too fast with the wrong question.

When reading through remember that I wrote those for other horses, so if you find places that talk about a different horse you will know why. The training methods apply for you though. They should take you up to next spring or a bit later; depending on how many days you ride in the week.

The first article is for a herd bound horse, but the methods apply to your situation. While a herd bound horse may appear to act out differently, the reasons are the same, and the training methods to get the horse back to thinking apply for your thoroughbred.

Basic Groundwork and Saddle Work for the Herd Bound Horse

The next article deals with more advanced training:

Teaching Connection and Collection

For good manners and even tempers, you just can't beat the herd!

I just read the post on horse birthdays and I can’t agree more.

I’m going through exactly what Paul describes with my thoroughbred, who’s only seven years old.

I’ve had him since he was three and a half. I go on his actual birth date, which I researched through Racing NSW’s website.

Though he’d only been in three races, the damage was already done.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realise this at the time.

It has been absolutely heartbreaking. And very costly.

What I’ve gone through (and what many others experience when they buy a thoroughbred off the track) wouldn’t happen if these beautiful animals were given a more natural start to life.

I see such huge differences in health and behaviour between my thoroughbred and my two-year-old (actual age) part-Morgans who’ve grown up in a much more natural environment in a herd.

Amazingly, my filly has taught my thoroughbred how to keep all his manure in one spot!

He never did this before we put him in the paddock with her. He’d just go all over the place, making grazing more difficult (as horses, like humans, don’t eat where they poo).

Now he goes in specific places, which frees up the rest of the paddock for grazing.

I never thought a horse could learn that at an older age, as it’s something foals learn when they’re young - and only then if given enough time to learn it from the mares!

I’ve been enjoying the Good Morgans blog and visit it daily to see what’s been published. I love reading all the different articles.

Keep up the great work!

Amanda Gallen.

Ray Paulick just tweeted his new post at Paulick Report (read it here), and I picked it up and went for a read.

In his trenchant post, Paulick critiques the Jockey Club for taking a laissez-faire stand about restrictions on the transfer of JC registration papers. In particular, he quotes the new JC head, Matt Iuliano, saying the organization doesn’t want to “insert” itself into private transactions.

Philosophically, I cannot see any other path for the Jockey Club to take. If it is a de facto party to every private sale or public transaction by sanctioning transmission of JC registration papers or monitoring their deletion from the registry, the JC would acquire extraordinary new powers that might not be a good thing all round, and the organization would need several dozen new suits to oversee and manage the resulting boondoggle.

It would be a nightmare.

In contrast, I would suggest that the “stickiness” of JC registration papers, which follow horses all their lives, is actually a blessing to the animals and to those who want to protect them.

For many Thoroughbreds (especially mares), having a set of JC registration papers is their only lifeline to a decent home and the prospects of satisfactory care. The simple fact that they are “Thoroughbred” makes them something special, and there are thousands of such mares out there today who owe their roles as pets, trail horses, show ponies, or producers in the Paint horse or Quarter Horse breeds to the seemingly unimportant fact that they are registered and have their papers.

A horse without papers is just a critter. Even if the owner knows it is a Thoroughbred, the animal simply does not have the cachet of a registered (paper pedigreed) animal, and with a change of ownership or two, the animal’s identity is totally defaced. And being or being mistaken for a “grade horse” is a dangerous thing, even today, because they make up the great majority of those animals sent to slaughter.

In contrast, Thoroughbreds were a small minority of the horses caught up in that sad situation. And the thing that kept so many of them from the precipice was their identity as “Thoroughbred,” which gained them a place as companion animal, pet, general athlete, or pasture art to impress the neighbors driving by.

Bright light. Dark shadow.

The thoroughbred industry uses common birth dates for horses.

August 1 in the southern hemisphere and January 1 in the northern hemisphere.

These dates coincide with the horse racing season.

This system standardises thoroughbred ages for comparison (due to the historical lack of actual birth day records).

On August 1, after a horse is born, it’s deemed a yearling. The following August 1 is its second ‘birthday’. It’s considered two years old, even if it’s as young as one year and one day.

Thoroughbred breeders aim to produce foals close to August 1. That way, when it’s time to train them, it’s the right time of year to race them.

This practice sees young horses ridden and raced before their bones and joints have matured.

Shoeing, and the unnaturally high protein diet given to these young animals, add further stress to immature joints.

As a result, thoroughbred horses older than five have many soundness issues.

Unfortunately, many of these visually beautiful animals are sold to the pleasure horse industry, causing emotional and financial heartache to many.

Tuesday, 11/17/09

On Monday night, I lightly longed Selena for about 10 minutes, mostly as a refresher for her. She tends to rush a little on the longe so I encouraged her to do a relaxed trot. She was great!

The weather was so spectacular today (Tuesday) that I took a vacation day and spent some quality time at the barn.

I rode Selena in the outdoor arena. The footing was still wet from the rain but the base was solid enough for some easy walk-trot work. We rode for about 30 minutes and my mom took pictures so I could track our progress and position. Selena was focused and very willing to work. We warmed up with about 10 minutes of walking, followed by walk-trot-walk-halt transitions. I threw in a few shoulder in exercises toward the end of the ride. Selena accepted contact willingly and we had a really nice ride.

Wizard and I rode for about 30 minutes on the trails and Mom hiked with us. He felt a little stiff throughout the ride and his right hind leg/hip was hitching just a bit. He also blew up for a minute on the final leg of the trail. He eventually relaxed, but my concerns are growing about his comfort. When we got back to the barn, a friend ran her fingers down his back and rump to check for soreness. He is not backsore at all but he is very tender all along his hip and croup on both sides. My hopes were that this trail walking regimen (1-2 days of walking on trails and light groundwork on other nights) would build muscle without too much wear and tear, but he is still not as comfortable as he should be. My friend has a therapeutic magnetic horse blanket and she put it on his back for a few hours. It will be interesting to see if it has any good results.

My mom was snacking on almonds while I tacked up. Selena seemed fascinated by the almonds so Mom gave her two. She loved them! She fed two to Wizard and he enjoyed them as well. Due to them not being part of a horse’s naturally digested food, we did not feed any more, but it was amusing to see them enjoying an unusual treat. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.

Saturday, 11/14/09

Before night fell, Wizard and I went for a trail ride with Mary the Morgan and her owner. We did not do the full loop, but we were out for about 45 minutes. Wizard was quite good. He had a few “oh boy!” moments, but was otherwise nice to ride.

When we returned from the trails, I tacked Selena up and ride in the indoor arena with Mary the Morgan and Miss Tuesday. In preparation for the upcoming hunter derby at my barn, there was a delightful array of creative and interesting jumps in the arena. I expected Selena to give them a good look when we walked into the ring. Instead, she almost seemed more comfortable with them in the ring. Of course, her two best barn buddies were in the ring as well, but there were also other horses who were coming and going.

I asked somebody to slam the arena door loudly to re-create the jumpy moment from the last ride. Selena did not bat an eye. She is not a spooky mare, so I think she was simply surprised (as was I!) when the door slammed on Thursday.

Selena was quite stretchy and ready to work. We did a long walking warmup, followed by large stretchy circles at the trot. We worked into transitions from walk to trot and back to walk. When she felt warmed up, I took advantage of all the jumps and we rode intricate patterns around the fences. She was fantastic. The chaos of the jumps seemed to work out nicely for her. Perhaps it reminded her of her jumper background.

Thursday, 11/12/09

Dressage Queen:

B: Yeah. She’s a total DQ. (Dressage Queen)

As a result of my trip to the Breeders’ Cup, Selena and Wizard had exactly two weeks off. When I started riding Selena, she had far more time off than that, but now she is fit, physically and mentally. When I mounted up, I could feel that she was ready to go. The horses had spent two days indoors due to all the rain we had in the area and they were all pretty fresh under saddle.

In the arena were more horses and riders than we usually encounter. I took the “herd” as a challenge and began my ride, starting with a very long walking warmup, followed by some simple trotting.

One of the boarders walked in and out of the ring a few times. The last time she left the arena, she accidentally S-L-A-M-M-E-D the gate really loudly. I’m not sure if the horse was more startled or if I was, but we both jumped. In an extremely uncharacteristic moment, I made a sarcastic and slightly snappy comment to the door-slammer. Immediately after I said it, I felt terrible and apologized. I took the encounter as a note to myself NOT to become a Dressage Queen. First of all, I prefer jumping and secondly, I cannot react negatively every time something startles me out of my riding moment.

I spent the rest of the ride working on rhythm and relaxation. It was not a very productive ride, but we’ll get back to where we were soon.

Wizard’s session, on the other hand, was very productive. I turned him loose in the arena and let him play for a few minutes before we worked. Then I saddled him up and we did just about three rotations on the longe line in each direction at the trot. i don’t want to stress Wizard’s joints but I do think it is important to continue our groundwork.

After we longed, I fastened my long lines to his bit and we did a little long line work. It was more like short lines, though, since I stood next to the saddle with my arm over the center. I held each long line like reins and did a little experimenting in each direction. We worked at the walk, doing figure 8s and serpentines in each direction. Interestingly, Wizard was far more tense to the right than he was to the left. I stood on both rides and he was a different horse when I was on his left. On his right, he was tense and mouthy with the bit. On the left, he was reasonably relaxed. The plot thickens :^)